On This Day in 2018, with the help of a dozen or so of my friends, my wife arranged for a special birthday message for me during an ASU game. What a fun surprise! We had a tailgating bday celebration too (and yes, the Sun Devils won this game, in spite of the stats at this moment in the game).

We rode over to Cotta Nostra, a new-to-us matcha/coffee place, #coffeeneuring2025neuring/" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky">for ride 6 of #coffeeneuring2025, then enjoyed our coffee at the adjacent pond.

Another enjoyable Friendsgiving in the books. 🍗🍽️🍺

Yep!

I made it down to Arizona Wilderness Brewing on RoRo for my birthday beer! A special 52oz stein pour—I chose Moving Buddies, a hazy IPA collab with Dark Sky Brewing in Flagstaff.

Finally got doctor clearance for a desert walk in South Mountain Park. Man it felt good to get back on the dirt. 🥾🌵

What’s been your favorite purchase so far in 2025?

I think mine has been this pen. It was a rare splurge, but I really enjoy using it and it’ll last forever. I forgot how nice it is to have a favorite pen (I bought it after purging several old “favorites” I’d kept since high school).

Rode over to the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for coffee with my mom as #coffeeneuring2025feeneuring/" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky">ride 5 for #coffeeneuring2025. Forgot to take a photo of said beverage, but here are some outdoor shots.

Scored all this candy while trick-or-treating tonight. 💪

This must be where Oreos come from

Killing off an old project today. RIP BetterAdventures.Club. Great memories—I still gets the feels. Started its predecessor (my first sole entrepreneurship) six years ago as a hedge on a mobile questing app I was working on with friends. Life intervened, of course, and I’ve since moved on.

What happens when you turn a national monument into a billboard?: https://rsjon.es/2025/10/27/what-happens-when-you-turn/

We grabbed coffee at the Buzzed Goat this morning for #coffeeneuringtag/coffeeneuring2025" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link">#coffeeneuring2025sjon.es/coffeeneuring" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky">#coffeeneuring2025 ride 4 of 7, using our new folding ebikes. Bummed we somehow forgot to take a photo of the bikes’ maiden voyage. 🤦‍♂️ #coffeeneuring

Ebiking as cheating: https://rsjon.es/2025/10/24/ebiking-as-cheating/

Along the Great East Road in Zambia.

Today’s #Coffeeneuring ride 3 of 7 was trying out the Kolache Cafe and grabbing a simple coffee. It’s my first time trying kolache—I had a ham/egg/cheese breakfast kolache, plus a strawberry cheesecake kolache. They were fine, though I don’t think this place will make it into our rotation.

It’s raining in Phoenix again this morning…which is great. But damn, let’s get this some of this precip later in the winter so we can snag a great wildflower year instead.

🤔

Helluva upset win over undefeated #7 Texas Tech yesterday! After dominating the entire game, we nearly gave up the win at the end with some special team blunders, but recaptured the lead in the waning seconds—don’t tell my cardiologist. Our post-game victory toast was especially refreshing! 🍾

Soft evening light, from a night paddle #OTD in 2022. These shots feel like a painting to me.

After an expedited research phase and a quick test ride today, we snagged matching Lectric XP4 750 folding e-bikes, in blue (see pic) and black. These seem like the best value for our pavement/hard packed dirt needs—and a good deal right now.

I’m pretty excited to add ebiking to our trips!

I heard it through the Grapevine…

#OTD 2018

Layers
#OTD 2018

Spiky desertlands.
#OTD 2018